Pelican, Fred (Oral history)

description

Object description

German Jewish inmate of Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany, 1938-1939; refugee in Richborough Refugee Camp, Sandwich, GB, 1939; private served with 74th Coy, Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in GB and France, 12/1939-11/1940; NCO served with 74th Coy, Pioneer Corps in GB and North West Europe, 12/1940-5/1945; served with War Crimes Investigation Unit in Germany, 5/1945-8/1946

Content description

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Georgenberg, Upper Silesia, Germany, 1918-1938: family circumstances; anti-Semitism; membership of Maccali and religious views; effects of rise of Nazism; question of emigration. Recollections of arrest for attempting to escape from Germany to Belgium, 1938: memories of Kristallnacht and attempt by Gestapo to arrest him, 11/1938; move to Berlin; plan to escape to Belgium via Aachen; reasons for arrest; nature of interrogation; behaviour of warders; personal morale; move to Aachen Prison. Recollections of period as inmate of Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany, 1938-1939: train journey from Aachen to camp including behaviour of guards; prior knowledge of concentration camps; gate sign.
REEL 2 Continues: induction procedure; allocation to Block 10, Room 4; photographic session aimed to produce bad appearance; camp layout; weather conditions; security measures; character of accommodation; relations with fellow inmates; character of kapos; distribution and nature of food; reaction to bread thefts; nature of canteen and ablution facilities; treatment of lice infected blocks.
REEL 3 Continues: disposal of waste and dead bodies; question of prayers for the dead; personal health; causes of death and effects of brutality; restricted movement; unofficial visit to SS dentist; effects of frostbite; treatment of inmates who reported sick; absence of recreational activities; hopes for release; relative freedom of movement for kapos; cleaning work; preponderance of SS inspections; kapos duties; organisation of snow clearing work.
REEL 4 Continues: exchanging cleaning duties for snow clearing; punishment for stopping work; subsequent punishment of kapo; punishment work; effects of work on health; parade ground; punishment of inmates for escape attempt; camp punishments and role of kapos; treatment of captured escaper; command structure of camp; different categories of inmates; presence of former SS homosexuals; lack of contact between different categories of inmates; impossibility of escape; psychological attitude; absence of informers; contact with outside.
REEL 5 Continues: character of postcards; monetary allowance; mother's success in obtaining visa for Shanghai in China; release procedure; recognition as former inmate on train journey; return to Georgenberg; VIP inmates. Aspects of emigration to GB, 1939: attempt to emigrate to Shanghai, China: reaction of Jewish community to his departure; emigration procedure; granting of British transit visa; search for valuables on Dutch border during train journey; screening procedure on arrival at Dover. Recollections of period as refugee in Richborough Refugee Camp, Sandwich, GB, 1939: move to camp; involvement of British Jews.
REEL 6 Continues: conditions and facilities; limited freedom of movement; visits by prominent personalities; monetary allowance; medical provision; refugee morale; prior expectations of outbreak of Second World War, 9/1939; fears for family; reactions and desire to participate in war. Aspects of period with 74 Coy, Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in GB, 12/1939-1/1940: background to volunteering for army, 12/1939; prior tribunal investigation; conversion of camp into recruit centre.
REEL 7 Continues: formation of unit; non-combatant role; induction and training; attitude of troops to British officers. Recollections of period as private with 74th Coy, Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in supply depot at Rennes, France, 1/1940-6/1940: posting to supply depot, 1/1940; relations with French civilians; role and duties; reaction to progress of German forces, 5/1940; destruction of depot and reaction of French civilians; move to Brest, 6/1940; confused situation; foraging for rations; boat journey to GB; arrival at Southend, GB.
REEL 8 Continues: Aspects of period as private with 74th Coy, Auxiliary Pioneer Corps in GB, 6/1940-11/1940: demolition duties in London. Recollections of period as NCO with 74th Coy, Pioneer Corps in GB, 12/1940-6/1944: NCO training at Ilfracombe, 12/1940-3/1941; erecting Nissen huts at Tisbury; building gun emplacements near Southampton; duties as NCO; timber cutting at Llanvaches, 1942-1943; building beach defences at Weymouth; infantry training at Bicester, 2/1944-5/1944; transfer of skilled members of unit; relations with other Allied units; morale; preparations for D-Day, 5/1944; move to staging post at Portsmouth.
REEL 9 Continues: Aspects of period as NCO with 74th Coy, Pioneer Corps in Normandy, 6/1944-8/1944: crossing to Arromanches, 11/6/1944; morale; degree of knowledge of concentration camps; supply role; attachment as interrogator to Canadian Army in Normandy, 7/1944: attitude of German POWs; personal rejection of brutality; Canadian reprisals against German troops; relationship with French civilians. Aspects of period with 74th Coy Pioneer Corps in North West Europe, 1944: return to unit; entry into Dieppe, France, 1/9/1944; various duties in Dieppe, France; role of unit during advance into Belgium; unloading ships in Antwerp, Belgium; relations with Belgians; posting to interpreter pool in Brussels, Belgium, 5/1945. Recollections of period as NCO with War Crimes Investigation Branch in Germany, 5/1945-8/1946: posting to unit, 5/1945.
REEL 10 Continues: reception by Lord Russell of Liverpool; attending legal course in GB; method of deposition; special powers and methods employed to catch war criminals; special pass; list of major suspects; independence of activities; use of informers; commandeering office facilities; investigating lost RAF personnel. Account of investigation for War Crimes Investigation Branch into missing Canadian airman who disappeared in Neuss, Germany, 24/12/1943: commandeering assistance on arrival in Neuss; tracing landing site; story of removal of pilot by Hans Esser to local Nazi Party headquarters, 24/12/1943; disappearance of Hans Esser; researching Hans Esser's background; catching Hans Esser's accomplice; details of airman's interrogation and murder, 24/12/1943.
REEL 11 Continues: method employed in tracing Han Esser's address; arrest of Hans Esser; interrogation of Hans Esser; use of force; discovery of site where body was dumped into River Rhine; confrontation with Hans Esser at scene; vetting of case; trial of Hans Esser in Hamburg, 1945; defence counsel's attempt to discredit deposition due to use of force; Colonel Alan Nightingale testifying about Pelican's character.
REEL 12 Continues: reasons for postponement of trial; Colonel Alan Nightingale's success in securing identical deposition from Hans Esser; reaction to death sentence on Hans Esser and arresting police officer; value of Official Secrets Act in protecting airman's family. Recollections of period as NCO with War Crimes Investigation Branch in Germany, 5/1945-8/1946: character of Allied Military Compound in Bad Openhausen; interviewing German female Communist used as prostitute in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp; question of war criminals escaping due to lack of personnel; capture and interrogation of Hans Barr at Neungamme Concentration Camp; duties carried out by Hans Barr at Neungamme Concentration Camp; attitude towards Hans Barr.
REEL 13 Continues: duties translating depositions. Account of investigating Tesch Case in Hamburg, Germany, 1945: letter identifying Dr Bruno Tesch as war criminal; role of Dr Bruno Tesch in developing poison gas, Zyklon B; interrogating informer Schneider and descriptions of Dr Bruno Tesch's early experiments; arrest of Dr Bruno Tesch by Pelican and Captain Walter Freud; imprisonment of Dr Bruno Tesch in Altona Prison, Hamburg; assignment of Schneider to run Dr Bruno Tesch's company, Tesch & Stabenow; Schneider's request for power of attorney; Colonel Alan Nightingale's setting up of meeting between Dr Bruno Tesch and Schneider.
REEL 14 Continues: Colonel Alan Nightingale's arrangement for Royal Signals to record Tesch/Schneider meeting; listening to conversation between Dr Bruno Tesch and Schneider; nature of interrogation of Schneider by Colonel Alan Nightingale and Pelican; details of note to Dr Bruno Tesch's wife found on Schneider; collapse of Schneider on hearing recording of meeting; decision not to prosecute Schneider; interrogation of Dr Bruno Tesch; search of Dr Bruno Tesch's house.
REEL 15 Continues: examination of Dr Bruno Tesch's diary and photographs illustrating sexual activities of Dr Bruno Tesch and his wife; distribution of Dr Bruno Tesch's clothing in displaced person's camp; dismissal of Dr Bruno Tesch's wife complaint; liaison with other Allied missions; end of involvement in case. Aspects of period as NCO with War Crimes Investigation Branch in Germany, 5/1945-8/1946: deferment of discharge; translation duties for senior officers; location of mother in Soviet Zone of Berlin; visit to see mother; mother's condition; leaving unit 23/8/1946; question of promotion in unit; attitude to role of catching war criminals.
REEL 16 Continues: reaction to German anti-Semitic activities; importance of war crimes procedure; dedication to personal role with unit; opinion of post-war Nazi hunters; question of Nazi war criminals being accountable for crimes.

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